Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

A Cinderella Story/The Godfather

Wolf Hall: A Novel by Hilary Mantel

Bring Up the Bodies: A Novel by Hilary Mantel

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After a prolonged break, Hilary Mantel finally returned to the Wolf Hall trilogy this year with The Mirror and the Light, the final installment in the fictionalized account of the rise and fall of the real Thomas Cromwell, a talented man who rose from humble beginnings to become Master Secretary and consigliere to King Henry VIII. I read the first two books when they came out (in 2009 and 2012) and thought they were fantastic. Both won numerous prestigious prizes including the Man Booker Prize […]

The Poppy War (Not Your Parent’s Light Fantasy Escapism)

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

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The Poppy War is a hard book to say you recommend. It’s well written, for sure. But the last few chapters are, without giving anything away, excruciating. I had been warned this was the case, but yet I still found myself staying up one night, and reading the final section with increasing horror. Reader, be warned, this is a wonderfully written book, with one hell of a trigger warning. The start of the book is classic enough. Rin is a poor orphan girl from the […]

The Broken Girls is a creepy page-turner

The Broken Girls by Simone St. James

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After the Sun Down Motel, I went in search of Simone St. James’s other books. The Broken Girls had the best reviews, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to read about teenage girls whose families had abandoned them. I’m glad I checked it out! It wasn’t quite as breathtaking as the Sun Down Motel, but it is really good.  2014: Twenty years ago, Fiona’s older sister, Deb, was murdered by her boyfriend and her body dumped on the grounds of a former boarding school named […]

“You did not see me — you did not look at me, and see me.”

Washington Black by Esi Edugyan

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This novel is a Bildungsroman about a young slave named George Washington Black, or simply Wash. It is Wash’s recollection of the extraordinary events in his life during the 1830s, especially his relationship with Christopher Wilde, aka Titch, the brother of Wash’s master Erasmus Wilde. The story opens with Wash in servitude at Faith plantation on Barbados, but his travels will take him to many lands where the weather is different but people are often the same. Washington Black is the story of a young […]

The Secret, Book, and Scone Society is a good mystery but maybe not for me

The Secret, Book, and Scone Society by Ellery Adams

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The Secret, Book, and Scone Society is a cozy mystery about four women trying to solve a murder in the small town of Miracle Springs, North Carolina. The water from Miracle Springs is reported to have healing powers so people flock to the town. The main character, Nora Pennington, owns the local bookstore and is a “bibliotherapist”. As a bibliotherapist, Nora listens to her customers’ troubles and then prescribes a series of books. If the books are read in the prescribed order, they should help […]

The Haunting of Rookward House is my new favorite Darcy Coates novel

The Haunting of Rookward House by Darcy Coates

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The Haunting of Rookward House is a creepy horror novel and it’s the first book in a while to actually scare me. Main character Guy is down on luck. He’s living with his mom and unable to find a job. While helping Mom clean out the attic, he discovers the deed to Rookward House, which Mom doesn’t really remember inheriting. Mom seems a bit ditsy. Guy immediately decides that selling Rookward House is the answer to their problems as it will give them enough money […]



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